Day 1: Holy Crab

Wow Grace really made them look easy. I already own F1/H1/S but since trying to recover from some minor chronic joint pain I've decided to take it easy (learned the hard way...). Some people have mentioned that F1 owners probably don't need Fundamentals but just after the first day I clearly need it! These 24 movements will be a great benchmark for me as I approach 100% recovery. Right now I'm just "exploring" the movements as suggested and making sure not to go beyond my body's current capability.

Crab: Holding the position is relatively simple, though I probably can't hold it for too long. Doing this in motion though it was crazy tough to keep the hips up.

Ape: In static, I can balance in the position when the arms are out of the equation, but putting the arms down forces my back to rise higher and I need to hold on to something.

- Alice

I tried Crab and Ape today, too and had similar experiences.

Crab: my hip kept dropping with every step and my shoulders rotated internally more than I thought they would.

Ape: I can not get my heels onto the floor unless I hold on to something sturdy.

Should I still be doing the walking? Or simply hold the positions?

My experience with the "Ape" is similar to Mark's. I can't manage to get my heels to the floor. My plan is to continue holding the position a few times throughout the day until I gain the necessary flexibility in my ankles. Does this sound right?

Unlike F1, there are no rules to how we proceed. Personally, I'll incorporate some of these movements daily and for now just try to hold them in good form with no pain (arbitrarily a few sets of 15-30s) for a week and check for improvement.

First day with the program. Ape went fine, but I could barely get into the crab position because of tight shoulders. It definitely wasn't a "healthy" feeling in my shoulders, elbows.

Is there any additional shoulder stretches I can do so that I can get into the crab position correctly?

Shouldn't I warm up before doing these exercises? 

When will the next day unlock? 

32 minutes ago, Matt Ferguson said:

When will the next day unlock? 

was wondering the same thing, it's already been more than 24hrs...

My Day 2 was unlocked when I checked at 0900 local. I had to log out and log back in again though to activate.

Thanks! I logged out and back in and it was unlocked. 

Yup, logging out did the trick for me as well! Thanks!

I re-did the (non-walking) Crab a bunch of times while watching TV. The head position is pretty optimal

I also found that one "secret" to not dropping the hip so much when walking in the Crab is to move the hands before moving the feet. That way I can keep the hip close to knee level. I wonder if that is cheating?

During the Ape, I noticed that I could get my heels to the floor if I positioned the feet further apart. This lead to internal rotation of the knees though and didn't feel too good. In the video, the girl's knees do cave in a bit too, though. Not sure if that is intentional on her part.

My wrists don't bend passed 45 degrees let alone the 90 degrees needed for the crab. Any suggestions on fixing this...I can't even do day 1 this way 

steve

4 minutes ago, Steve Paulsen said:

My wrists don't bend passed 45 degrees let alone the 90 degrees needed for the crab. Any suggestions on fixing this...I can't even do day 1 this way 

 

steve

One option is to perform reps of pushing up from a sitting position to as close to the full hold position as possible. Don't force this off the bat, although you can get a bit more aggressive with it later. Should get you moving in the right direction

This is going to be quite fun. At 45, with a wacked out wrist, tennis elbow and a sorta recovered L4-L5, I am super stoked about the process. My teenagers are concerned though. ;-)

Rule number one - take it easy! I've found that the secret to the crab - particularly if you are attempting to move is to get you hips level with your chest and keep them high by really tightening your glutes. Again - don't over do it or as I've found you will feel it!

- Thank you for the notification that the course was not automatically advancing you to the next lesson without first logging out and then back in.  My apologies for this and we are working on correcting the glitch now!

- At this point in your training, don't poor a great deal of effort into trying to immediately correct an encountered deficiency.  It took time to break it, and it is going to take time to fix it.  

Just you learning that you have severe, previously unsuspected mobility deficit(s) is the 'win' that we are looking for here.  

We will continue chipping away at these as the course materials progress.  For now, explore the movements mindfully and playfully.  Start narrowing in on where you are exceptionally tight and/or weak.  Don't strain, don't push thru pain and enjoy yourself.

The GB curriculum gets harder soon enough.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I don't think you actually need to log out and back in. I'm on Chrome (Mac) and all I need to do is refresh the page each morning. On Windows, that's F5 (or Control-F5 for force refresh); on Mac, it's Command-R.

It turns out that the glitch is not really a glitch.  The logging out and then logging back in is how the Fundamentals course is notified that you have completed the previous day's assignment and are authorized to move forward to the next day's lesson.  

We are working on a smoother, more intuitive way of your recording your activity at the end of your day's training which will not require logging out and back in.  Should be ready in a few days.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer